


The hardest ones to break

by orphan_account



Series: Family Doesn't End in Blood [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman and Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Fear gas, Flashbacks, Fluff, Gen, Jason Todd Angst, Jason Todd is Alive, Nobody Dies, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sad with a Happy Ending, kind of, sad jason todd, someone give jason a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 20:27:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12196833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: “Dick, what the hell are you doing?” Jason’s voice came out weary and exhausted. “That’s the Joker. How many times has he tried to kill us?”Dick looks up at him, bewildered, mouth parting as realization dawns across his face.“Oh God. Oh, Jason, no…” he moans, running a hand through his hair and squeezing his eyes shut. “What happened, Jason? Tell me what happened!”OrFear makes people see things that aren't there, and hurt people they should love.





	The hardest ones to break

**Author's Note:**

> Part one of my new series!

Jason knows what’s happened the moment the yellow gas crawls down his throat and fills his lungs, but the realization comes too late, which seems to be a recurrent pattern in his life nowadays. Always too late.

_ Fear gas. _

The lower half of his mask had shattered in the fight with Scarecrow’s henchmen, and he yanked the broken remnants off of his head, tossing it aside in panic where it clattered against the concrete floor of the warehouse they’d been spying on.

“Bru- Batman? Nightwing? Are you there?” Jason fights to keep his voice steady as he speaks into the comm, hoping the device was still intact enough to work. The gas seems to have cleared, and his head is swimming. God, please don’t let him have inhaled too much.

 

“They’re not home right now.” A voice interrupts the silence Jason hadn’t been aware of until it was broken. He span around, hand already flying to the grip on his gun and yanking it out of the holster, pointing it at the figure in front of him.

It was clumsier than he cared to admit.

As the person stepped forwards, Jason resisted the urge to throw up, instead stumbling back a few steps. He knew it was the fear gas, but the Joker standing before him seemed so  _ real. _

“Come any closer to me, I’ll blast your goddamn head off, you understand me?!” His voice broke, and his grip on the gun slipped and became shakier. 

The man- if you could even call him that- stepped closer, a grin splitting his face in half and a maniacal laugh filling the empty room of the warehouse, bouncing off the walls, and Jason felt like he was fifteen years old again, trying to be something he wasn’t and stand up to this monster, pretending he was some kind of hero. Now? Now, things were different. Jason knew he wasn’t a hero; he was something darker, something more than he’d ever been with ‘Robin’ emblazoned across his chest

“Ha! Ha, you couldn’t if you wanted to!” The joker sneered, pulling a crowbar out from inside his coat, and Jason squeezed his hands around the gun tighter, breathing unevenly. “You’ve got your little moral code.” The other man raised the rod of metal above his head and stepped closer to Jason, who’d had enough.

_ Sorry Bruce _ .

He narrowed his eyes and shot once, twice, three, four, five times.

Jason didn’t even blink.

The Joker crumpled like paper into a heap on the floor, and  _ hey, wasn’t he a little smaller than Jason remembered? A lot smaller? _

He barely heard the door being flung open, and footsteps thundering into the room over the blood rushing through his ears. His limbs felt like lead, and there was a dull ringing in his ears from the volume of the gunshots.

“Red Hood, we heard gunshots and-” Dick (Nightwing, he chided himself) had run in, and was now staring, horrified, at the heap on the floor. “Jesus Jason, what have you  _ done?” _

And that doesn’t make sense. Sure, he shot someone, but it was the Joker, the man who’d ruined all of their lives. Why was Dick so upset, and why was he  _ cradling _ the  _ body? _

_ “ _ It’s going to be okay Harper-  _ shhh _ , no, you’re  _ fine- _ ”

“Dick, what the hell are you  _ doing? _ ” Jason’s voice came out weary and exhausted. “That’s the Joker. How many times has he tried to kill us?”

Dick looks up at him, bewildered, mouth parting as realization dawns across his face.

“Oh God. Oh, Jason,  _ no…” _ he moans, running a hand through his hair and squeezing his eyes shut. “What happened, Jason? Tell me what happened!”

“I don’t know!” He burst out, arms gesturing wildly. His head was spinning, and the gun slipped from his sweaty hands, clattering loudly against the floor. His mouth felt dry, and he stood almost frozen as the door burst open again, and Bruce strode through.

He shouldered past Jason, who stood immobile, and knelt down besides Dick. Jason shut his eyes, rubbing the heels of his hands into them until colours sprung up. 

He opens them again, and the Joker is gone, some costumed girl with a shock of brightly colored hair is there in his place for some reason.

And her costume is stained red, with these grotesquely gaping holes in her front.

Oh.

Oh no.

Jason knows what’s happened just as his vision starts to turn dark, but as usual, he’s too late. The thought echoes through his mind as he slumps to the floor.

 

-

 

Harper was used to getting injured doing her ‘superhero duties’, and she was even used to some friendly fire (Ahem, Batman breaking her nose, Ahem). But getting shot five times in the stomach by a teammate? That was some heavy stuff, at least for her.

That’d happened two weeks ago, and she was  _ still _ confined to the flat, much to her annoyance.

Not that Cullen wasn’t great company and all, but she itched to be out there, hurtling through the streets of Gotham fighting the bad and saving the good. It was like a drug- and Harper was hooked on the adrenaline of it.

Sitting in bed for two weeks nursing a gunshot wound wasn’t the best part of the job.

 

She didn’t really remember what had happened, but Nightwing and the rest of them had filled in the blanks for her easily enough.

The man who’d shot her was none other than Jason Todd, or Red Hood as she was meant to call him, and for some reason he’d mistook her for the Joker and shot her. Five times. In the stomach.

How had he even mistook her for the Joker? Harper knew she could go a little overboard on the makeup from time to time, but the  _ Joker? _ She had no idea.

“Harp, there’s someone at the door for you!” Cullen calls from the living room and she groans, running a hand through her hair.

“Coming, gimme a sec.” 

She pulled a hoodie on over her tank top, kicking off the covers and pushing open the door to her bedroom.

“Look, I’m gonna get the rent together, give me a-” Harper began, blearily rubbing her eyes and shoving a hand in her jumper pocket. She cut off as she saw the man standing in the doorway. The same one who’d shot her. Harper glared, grabbing a rolling pin off the counter and gripping it like a weapon. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the most intimidating thing, but Cullen didn’t- and couldn’t- know about her whole ‘Bluebird’ gig. A gun might be a little but too un-incognito. “If you’ve come to finish what you’ve started, I’m gonna have to disappoint you, asshole.” She snarled, and she could’ve sworn that Red Hood’s face turned- well, red.

“I’m not here to-” He began angrily, stopping himself halfway through. “I’m not here to hurt you.” He repeated, calmer. Harper hesitantly lowered the rolling pin, conscious of Cullen peering from the other room.

“What  _ do _ you want?”

“I didn’t mean to shoot you. I thought you-”

“Yeah, you thought I was the joker.” She cut him off, scowling. “I don’t know what hurt more, that, or the five bullets you emptied  _ into my stomach. _ ” 

He cringed, and combed a hand through his hair.

“Look, I came here to say it was an accident. There was Scarecrow’s fear stuff, and I was just- I mean- I hope you get better, okay?”

Harper blinked, almost taken aback. “It’s fine, dude. Though if that’s your version of an apology, it might need some work.” He doesn’t smile, and she feels her stomach twist. 

Not the first time Jason Todd’s had that effect on her, though before it was more of a ‘Jesus Christ you just shot me’ kind of reflex.

“I’ve been told.” he says shortly, and Harper wonders how the guy who almost killed her is here, somehow making her feel bad for him.

He turns away, and for a split second, Harper wants to invite him in. ‘Hey, my brother’s made cookies, you can come in if you want.’ is what she should’ve said. ‘I know what it’s like when people mess with your mind, I won’t hold it against you.’ is another.

But Harper says nothing, and shuts the door behind him.

“Who was that?” Cullen yells from across the flat.

“Delivery man.” She lies. “Wrong house.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is the start of a new series I'm working on. Kudos are appreciated if you enjoyed, and please leave a comment telling me what you liked about the chapter and what you want to see next! Comments are a huge motivation for me :) I hope you enjoyed!


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